From Washington’s point of view, Wednesday’s cease-fire cements Egypt’s moderate role and improves relations with Israel but most importantly – averts the catastrophe of an Israeli ground incursion.

The cease-fire agreement concluded Wednesday between Israel and Hamas is a triple-crown foreign policy achievement for U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: 1. It strengthens the moderate posture of Egypt and cements Washington-Cairo relations; 2. It helps extract Israel from a strategic trap of its own design and enhances Obama’s stature in both Israel and America and 3. It marks a...

An amazing victory for American diplomacy; an amazing victory for
democracy in Egypt; and the status of Hamas; a defeat for the hawks,
who want war, no matter the cost, on all sides (US, Palestinian,
Israeli).

This also gives Obama leverage in stopping an attack on Iran. He scored
points with Israelis and many Jews in the U.S. He now has the political
capital, at least with the latter, to continue to reject Netanyahu's
drumbeat of war with Iran.

The Obama Administration sent Clinton to the Middle East not to
"fix" it, but to counter her Benghazi foreign policy failures
and to mark her unofficial kick-off to the 2016 US Presidential
Campaign. Clinton had no business over there in the first place and
could have brokered a peace deal from afar. Clinton's visit was purely
about optics. What's worse is that the Obama Administration legitimized
President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist organization who
wants to see Israel utterly destroyed. Israel had the opportunity to
take out its enemies and buckled to international pressure. Now Israel
appears weak in the eyes of the world and conceded to the Obama
administration that has no intent or desire to take action against Iran.

Z regrets that Israel didn't take the opportunity to "take out its
enemies." That was possible but the cost would have been as
followe: 1. Thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza killed. 2. High
casualties among the IDF 3. Weakening of relations with the US 4.
Initialting attacks by Hezbollah in the north and other radical groups
5. Exposing Israeli and possibly American citizens and installations in
other countries to terrorist revenge attacks. All of these were
avoided at the same time that the missile launchings were stopped and
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, of all groups, was instrumential in getting
it done.

Israel bit off more than it could chew. The only resolution to all of
this and to guarantee long term peace and security for Israel is for
Israel to stop ignoring the Arab Peace Initiative and embrace it. It
grants Israel all it states it wants. The Occupation and illegal
settlements have to end. It is costing Israel far too much economically
and status wise worldwide. Like it or not a Palestinian State has to
come into being in order for Israel to survive.

Such a pity that solving the problem by doing what is morally and
lawfully right (under international law) including the ending of the
ceaseless war crime against the Palestinians takes, second place to
"postures" and "stature" of various political
talking heads. Israel, you must bring this dark period to an end, accept
that you have done your palestinian brothers a great crime and start
mending the damage now....its still not too late (withdraw to 67
borders, let the Pal's have their state so they rebuild and live like
human beings ....please oh please end this now...for good.

How in the world can you naively state Egypt exhibits
"moderation" in facilitating the "short-term" cease
fire just agreed upon? So if Egypt is perceived to be
"moderate", how did all of those long range missiles get into Gaza?

nothing and is sailing through his political life doing just...nothing.
There was a crisis in ME and he is kissing ladies in Burma. Not long
ago 4 US diplomats were killed in a planned terror attack in
Benghazi... Throuought history an attack on an ambassador of a country
means war. US didn't do nothing. Obama is a do nothing
ccommander-in-chief and US lost prestige. It will hunt US for years to
come. Oh, maybe Obama will retire in Burma

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